


and then, it swallowed me

by orphan_account



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Sleepy Boys Inc
Genre: Caretaking, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Platonic Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27285913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: schlatt is assigned to help take care of a now terrified wilbur after the war is over. it goes well, he guesses.
Relationships: Jschlatt & Wilbur Soot, we need more schlatt and wilbur friendship in this tag so i am here to provide
Comments: 10
Kudos: 218





	and then, it swallowed me

It was a normal meeting at first, at the least, that's what Schlatt thought when he logged into the game. 

The masked fucker, Dream, had called him over to discuss what was apparently important matters related to the war. He wasn't listening for half the call, considering he droned on for what seemed like a long time.

He tuned back into the conversation when he heard a question obviously directed towards him.

"So, I'll see you in five?"

Considering how close the main house were, Schlatt decided it would be best to start heading out now. He got up from his chair, making sure to push it in, and let out a content hum.

"On my way."

"Great! See you then." 

The phone turned off, and the ram hybrid was left with nothing but his own thoughts and the sound of rain hitting the windows outside of his office. He tightened the tie on his suit, and then he was off. 

He was lucky he remembered the path, because it would be a pain if he didn't, considering Dream likely told him and he didn't even hear them. 

After a couple minutes of walking, a small house greeted him. To confirm this was the right place and he wasn't going to enter some random house that he saw that even slightly looked like the one he knew, he looked at the structure to look for the familiar writing.

 _Yep, this sure is the place._ He notes, seeing the wood engraved with multiple things.

 _Dream's House_ was carved onto the top, painted over in black letters.

In smaller writing, but still noticeable, a few messages were carved onto the front right under that. 

_Tommy waz here,_ accompanied by the writing of the other child of the server, reading out _Tubbs was hre too!._ He let out a small smile at that. He didn't like to admit it, but he was proud of those kids. They got so much done and still managed to have fun like, well, children. 

Maybe he'll ask Wilbur to properly introduce him to them one day, seeing as the war is finally done with for the time being.

Walking up to the door of the house, he gently knocked on the door, stepping back when he heard someone scramble out of what seemed to be a bed and shout back, "COMING! GIVE ME A SECOND!"

After a few seconds, he was greeted to the familiar mask-wearer.

"Hey there Schlatt." Dream waved, making sure the mask on his face was tightened, _Schlatt wondered how he was able to see out of that thing,_ and the businessman gave a small wave back. He really wished he paid attention to the phone call so he knew what this was about now.

It was as if some Sky God heard his prayers, because luckily, Dream began to explain exactly what this was for. 

"So, I know, you probably weren't expecting the call earlier. I mean, I sound crazy, right? Asking you to all of a sudden have to take care of Wilbur Soot, past war criminal, and also my past rival." 

_Oh._

_Oh no._

And he continued on.

"But I mean, listen. You're the closest one to him that I could contact." He shrugged, shoving his hands into his hoodie pockets and idly swaying.

"Can't you get Philza, that dude? The guy he's always boasting about being his father figure?"

The expression on the mask changes to one of a wince, being the literal definition of _'uh, yikes..'_

"About that.." He blinked, as if thinking of how to say this nicely to Schlatt. 

"Phil said he.. can't have Wilbur in the same house as him at the moment." That caused Schlatt a lot of confusion. Phil has always been such a nice and caring man, willing to listen to anyone through whatever. What could have made him change his mind?

"Wait, what? Why not?" 

"Tommy and Techno are.. still recovering from the war and Phil said it's best to keep them and Wilbur separate for now." Dream sighed, putting one hand under the mask to rub at his eye.

He cleared his throat and shook his head, continuing.

"Anyways, Wilbur's probably been waiting for a while now. You can take up this job, right Schlatt?" He asked, adjusting the mask but still managing to stare at the American.

"Yeah. Virgo's been my friend for years, I'm sure taking care of him would be an easy enough thing to do." He shrugged, hands lazily shoving into his suit-pants pockets.

"Cool-cool! I'll be sure to send you letters from Phil, the old man told me to tell you that he's going to be writing weekly letters to you about how to help Wilbur if a certain situation arises and he also expects you to send him updates back, and any questions if you need them."

"Just.. don't let Wilbur find them when you're taking care of him." Dream noted, his tone now changed to a mixture of both sad as well as being firm.

"Got you. Ender chests do exist for a reason." He motioned to the green hoodie-wearer with fingers-guns, smiling.

"Alright! See you later, goat man. Wilbur's waiting for ya at the central portal." He gave one last wave to the speed runner and nodded, making his own dash towards the central portal.

He pulled up his communicator while running, just to make sure he was going to the right coordinates.

To his relief, he was. And he was getting there pretty fast, too. 

As well as that, he noticed that there were only 3 people in the realm at the moment. Him, Will, and Dream. Everyone else must have gone back to their home realms. Shaking his head and putting the communicator down, he started walking when the huge center area came into sight.

Slowly walking into the area, a familiar figure was leaned against the portal, throwing a piece of flint up and down, tapping their foot to an unknown rhythm.

\---

"Hey, Virgo!" He called out, waving to the familiar man.

The musician's head perked up and he looked back at Schlatt with a soft smile, waving.

"Hey, Schlatt!" Wilbur called back out to him in response, hand now at his side. He cleared his throat and shifted his feet a bit, before looking back towards his friend. "So, I'm assuming you've heard the news about our, well, living situation now." 

Schlatt nodded, before asking his own question about the situation.

"Where are we living, anyways? At your home dimension, or mine? Because like.. I never really got told. All I got told was that we're living together now." 

All he got in response was a shrug.

"Same as you, but whichever's easier for you. I'm just going along for the ride." 

The businessman raised his hand to his chin and stopped for a second to think about which would be easier. 

Wilbur's home dimension is one that the other would likely feel more comfortable in, but his house is small, and he lives very close to Philza, which in turn, would result in Tommy and Techno also seeing him again. _Not the best idea._

He guesses he'll have to settle for his own home dimension, sighing and shaking his head.

"We're headed to mine because I realized that maaybe going to yours isn't the best for.. other reasons." 

Wilbur tilted his head, but still nodded, following behind Schlatt as he entered the swirling portal that lead them back out of the game.

The conman let out a sigh of relief as he saw his familiar apartment, immediately making a speed-walk to the doors, the taller still following behind quietly. 

He noted that, since they were now in the 'real world', their appearances were changed back to what they usually are. Instead of the musician's bloody shirt, long brown cloak, and scarred face, it was the familiar messy brown hair accompanied by the yellow sweater and tiktok beanie. 

Instead of the businessman's own suit and goat horns, it was his signature mutton chops with messy hair, and a plain black shirt.

Schlatt tried not to let too much concern linger in his eyes when he saw that the guitarist was still shaking and scared even when back in the real world. It makes sense though, seeing as the taller was on the server day and night with no breaks whilst the war was happening, no matter how many breaks people tried to get him to take.

(He wonders how many sleepless nights were pulled just to make the button room that he tearfully told the president about.)

"Well, we're here. Home sweet home, Wilbur Soot." He said, unlocking the door and holding it open for the sweater-wearer. The other gave a soft smile, walking inside with a quiet _'thanks'._

\---

It took a bit for the two of them to settle back into the real world, but it was easy enough, albeit with some struggles.

_"Schlatt, for the last time, we don't just have cooked steak in our inventory! We have to cook food!"_

...Okay, maybe a lot of struggles.

But, aside from that, they were doing fine! They were being two friends chilling in an apartment complex, nothing much to say about that. But he had to bring up the topic _some time,_ so why not now?

"Oh yeah, by the way Soot, we gotta talk."

He wishes he didn't hear the way the already somewhat quiet man's breath hitched for a second.

"W.. what's up?" He could hear the heavy concern in the other's tone. It pained Schlatt. He really wishes he could go back and give everyone who hurt him a piece of his mind, including past him.

"We have to discuss your boundaries, and a safe word if we're in a public scenario and you're feeling uncomfortable. I know you may not want to talk about what happened exactly, and we don't have to, but I need to know what makes you uncomfortable so I don't hurt you." 

Silence, and then,

"Oh. Alright."

More silence, but Schlatt didn't question it or pester the other. He knew it was going to take a bit for the taller to say what he was comfortable and uncomfortable with, and he wasn't going to pry. He just put his hands in his lap and waited a few minutes, until he talked in a quiet tone.

"I mean, uh, .. It's.. mainly just loud noises that represent TNT and fire that get me super bad. O- other things are fine, I think." 

The (now ex, at least, at the moment ex-businessman) nodded and noted that down in his head. _No 3am cup o' noodle cooking because you finished screaming at a wii game, Mr. Schlattcoin._

"That's okay, that's fine. We can work with that. That's a start! I'm proud of you Will." 

The other's breath hitched again, and he looked in Wilbur's eyes and he swore he could see sparkles. He rubbed at his eyes and nodded, mouthing 'thank you.' 

"I- ..I don't really know what a safe word could be- god, I'm sorry, I'm new to this stuff and-" He took a second to sniff and rub at his eyes again. "I-I really don't want to fail you Schlatt, I just don't know if I'll ever recover because things suck and-" He broke out into soft cries, pulling his knees up to his chest. The other immediately got up and quickly made his way towards Wilbur, putting a hand on the taller's knee.

"Hey, hey, it's alright. That's why we're here. I'm not a professional, but I'm your friend, and I'm here to stay with you till you feel better, Will." 

He got a small nod in return and he smiled, ruffling the British man's hair.

"You've got this." 

After another few minutes of this, Wilbur quietly spoke, as if not wanting to break the silence.

"Can- .. can we go to bed for now? I'm.. I'm really tired, man." He sighed, and the American nodded, standing up and scooping up the British man into his arms bridal style.

"Come on, let's get you to bed you dumb Virgo." 

A small chuckle and the roll of the eyes. Schlatt laid the two down on his surprisingly large mattress on the floor, jumping when he felt Wilbur immediately latch his arms around his waist, head curling into the other's chest.

"Night, Blades." Wilbur softly said, already half asleep.

"... Night, Soot." 

\---

When morning came around, Schlatt had already been up, just finishing making two breakfast plates for both himself and the musician. A bit of bacon and some eggs, making sure to turn off the stove before the other awoke.

He also saw that there was a letter slid into his apartment, addressed from Ph1lza. The 'weekly letter' must have came in today.

It was neatly folded, even coming with a neat stamp that said 'SBI' on it. Opening the envelope, he read the message attached to it.

_Dear Schlatt, or whatever you want me to call you_

_This is the first of the weekly letters, as Dream has told you! I just want to send these to check in on both you and Will. I know it's tough having such a random job placed onto you, so I wanted to make sure you were doing good._

_Also, this is just something I wanted to say about Wilbur's boundaries._

_Don't mention the name Milo around him. It sends him into a panic. Trust me, it's happened before._

_Aside from that, I don't really have too much, except for keep him safe for me, or I will have your head._

_-Phil_

He chuckled at that last part, taking out his own sheet of paper from a nearby drawer and writing out his own response to the old man.

_Dearest Phil-za Minecraft,_

_I appreciate your letter and the concerns for ol' Wilbur Soot here, but trust me, we're both completely fine with this living scenario!_

_Thanks for the info on the name Milo, though. Will be sure to be careful._

_He said he also hates the sound of tnt or fire, so if you get him back, be careful._

_Even if you're protective over him, he's my best friend, and I will **not hesitate to do something.**_

_Sincerely, J. [Better than you] Schlatt_

The black short sleeve wearer put the letter down and sighed, placing it into the envelope that Phil sent it to him in and putting both letters into a spare drawer for now, waiting till later to decide to send them.

He set the plates down and sighed, not knowing what to do while waiting for the other to wake up, so he decided it'd be best to wake him up now.

Walking over to the mattress, he shook Wilbur gently, stepping back to give him room to wake up.

He jumped at the initial touch, but seeing that it was just his friend, he blinked, immediately shooting up from his sleeping position to stretch.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Schlatt chuckled, pointing the spatula at him.

"Well, good morning to you too, Mr. President." He said, getting up and watching the other point to the breakfast table, seeing the two already finished plates, going to sit down. The shorter sat down at his own seat, whilst the taller awkwardly sat down in the other, directly across from his friend.

It was silent for the first few minutes of their breakfast, but it was a comfortable silence. They both quite liked it, if they were being honest. 

Of course, Schlatt had to say it some time.

"Oh yeah, by the way Wilbur. I've been thinking, and what if your safe word was like, a color or something?"

Wilbur put down his fork and raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, I guess that could work. How about... I don't know, purple?"

"Purple works good for me." They both shared a smile, with Schlatt going to put both of their empty plates in the sink.

"So, do I just.. say purple whenever I'm super uncomfortable?"

"That's basically it. It's more for if we're in public and you can't directly tell me you're uncomfortable so you can hint at it and I can get you outta there."

"Wow, that's.. actually super thoughtful." Wilbur said, more to himself than anything, but a genuine smile appeared on Schlatt's face when he heard it.

"Of course! Gotta do what I can to help my good pal out."

\---

He didn't expect their safe word to be used so soon. 

It was a normal day out, the two of them had just headed to the mall to do their own business, which included buying food, seeing as the small apartment they shared was out of food to eat.

He saw Wilbur tense up next to him in their shared booth in the small restaurant that Schlatt had offered the two of them to go out to, and he raised a concerned eyebrow. And then he saw what was making him so uncomfortable.

Phil, Tommy, and Techno were a few booths behind them.

No wonder the taller was so scared. He was probably terrified out of his mind seeing Techno and Tommy again after what they said to him and how they left him, especially from what Dream said.

"If you wanna get out of here, say the word and we'll dip." He softly said to the other, resting a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head, just deciding to take a bite out of his sandwich instead.

The two chatted for a bit, with Wilbur quickly having gotten his mind off of _that_ when he and Schlatt began talking again.

_Schlatt's thankful he doesn't notice the small glare he sends Techno when he passes by their booth to go get a spare cup._

He feels bad that this all happened in the first place. He knows Wil is a nervous wreck as it is, with his whole scenario and going outside for the first time in months, but all he can do is keep a close eye on the other.

When they finish their food, the shorter leaves the money for their food to be paid off and he gets up, motioning for the other to follow. He nods, doing so, following the other to the main counter.

On their way out, Schlatt is stopped by a hand being put on his shoulder, and he turns around to see that it's Phil. He notes that Techno and Tommy are at the front counter, purchasing some spare things as well as paying off the check for them.

"Is Will alright?"

He spares a glance over to the very nervous taller man, who is now wildly messing with his sleeves.

"Yeah, we've been handling it pretty well. Also, we totally had a cooler dinner than you three, isn't that right Wilbur?" 

Wilbur just nods, however, he can't contain the smile as he shakes his head.

"Well, just know that I'm here, even if our whole situation is.. weird right now. Give me a call anytime, yeah mate?"

"Of course." Wilbur says, finally saying something after his whole silence in this scenario.

He sees Techno and Tommy walk up behind Phil, both of them having the same shocked but also confused expression, causing Wilbur to go behind Schlatt as he immediately tenses up again.

"Wilbur?" Tommy asks, voice quiet, as if he's in disbelief.

Techno just shoots a glare at the two.

He leans in close to Schlatt, muttering "purple, for sure, not liking this, uh.." 

And that's when the other knows it's time to go.

"It was nice running into you three, but we have, uhm, an appointment to go to. Yeah." 

He takes a shaking Wilbur's hand and leads him out of the resturaunt, letting him shakily fall into his arms when they're safely in the car.

"They hate me, they really do, god, I'm so scared Schlatt, I'm- I'm so sorry-"

"Hey, hey, shhh, it's alright." He says, rubbing circles into the crying man's back.

\---

The words were said out of the blue during a random one of their dinners.

"Hey, Schlatt, I never really said this fully but, thank you so much. For like, all of this.

I mean it."

"Of course, Wilbur."

He got up and walked over to his friend, wrapping his arms around the other, who froze up, but soon melted into the hug.

_"What kinda friend would I be if I didn't care for the one who got me to where I am now?"_


End file.
